We thought it would be a fun challenge to do the Death Ride on our stand-up bikes (SUBs) this year.  Having completed it a handful of times in the past on normal bikes, it’s fair to say, we knew what we were getting ourselves into.  Though the several years hiatus had dulled our memories a bit (a good thing!).

TLDR:  We completed 3 passes – shy of our ideal 4-pass goal. It was a fun, challenging and exhausting day, with 77 miles, 10,000+ feet of climbing and a ride time of 9:15 hours.  Here’s a short video of the day’s highlights.

Initially, we’d planned on riding our ElliptiGOs…. however, since receiving our new Cycletes 5-weeks earlier, the GOs had taken a back-seat (read: we were really having a blast on our new SUBs). The added stability and comfort of the Cyclete (check out our review) on imperfect road surfaces, especially on downhills, was the deciding factor.  Though, the road tires on the GO would likely be a faster ride than our 29-er knobbies – safety and comfort won out….

Pre-ride: The ride starts in Markleeville, a little town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains south of Lake Tahoe.

It includes five passes, for 15,000’ of climbing over 129 miles in one day (for those who complete all 5 passes), and generally draws 2,500+ riders.

There are strictly enforced cut-off times throughout the course – so you can’t really lollygag if planning to do the full deal (ahem).

Given our less than stellar training, our goal was to finish 4-passes (about 100 miles of riding and 11,500 of climbing). The passes consist of both sides of Monitor (8314 ft) and Ebbetts (8730′) and the east side of Carson Pass (8580′) – here’s the profile.

We made the 2-hour drive up from Sacramento the day before, checked in, and ventured a bit east to find a campsite for the night.  We lucked out finding the perfect dispersed camp site on BLM land – with its postcard perfect lake and meadow flowers.

The ride: We’d planned to start out at 3:00 AM (ambitious!) to give us some breathing room from the cut-off times, and to take advantage of cooler temps, but finally rolled out closer to 4:00 AM, which for us, is saying something!  The ride starts out with a gentle meandering few warm-up miles along the Carson River (Hwy 89) before hitting the Monitor Pass turnoff. Continuing up Monitor you climb up through an old mining district and to the top of an Aspen covered pass. You then make a quick descent down to Highway 395 where you immediately make a u-turn, and begin the long climb back up to the pass.

After Monitor we still felt pretty good as we flew down the West side back down to the Carson River and onto Highway 4 to begin the climb up Ebbett’s. This ascent is relentless with a few super steep sections – and about 3,000 feet of gain, and with a few false summits along the way.

Nearing the pass, we were feeling pretty tired and overheated – taking more than a few walking breaks and breathers in the shade.

To the spectator who, thought they were being helpful by informing us ½ way up the climb:

“You only have 1,500′ of climbing to go” – which I mistakenly heard as “only 500′ to go”  –  I know you had good intentions, but I cursed you after each false summit.  Are we there yet?

We eventually made to the top of Ebbett’s Pass by 1:00 PM – with a ½ hour to spare for the cut-off.  Meaning,  we could continue down the backside, flip a u-turn and come back up – and collect the 4th pass sticker (about 1,500’ of climbing).  So very temping……

Ultimately, we decided  that 3 passes would do – we still had about 15 miles to get ourselves back to the start.  And we both were feeling our Achilles tendon’s a bit on the last climb.  Neither one of us wanted to end up with an overuse injury doing something that well, is supposed to help us AVOID overuse injuries! Did I mentioned our training was a bit slack?

So, we rested up for a few, and then turned around for quick and scenic descent, followed by a leisurely ride back to the start.

It was a great and challenging day on our SUBs – and we both were really happy with the way our Cycletes handled the climbs and descents – the only limitation was us! Next year, hopefully we’ll be back, for at least 4-passes!

Conclusion: We completed 3 passes – shy of our ideal 4-pass goal. It was a fun, challenging and exhausting day, with 77 miles, 10,000+ feet of climbing and a ride time of 9:15 hours.  Here’s a short video of the day’s highlights.

And our day via Strava….

Some positive comments heard from fellow riders:

• That’s awesome! (x 100)
• OMG – they’re two of them!
• Someone stole your seat! (LOL)
• Does it freewheel downhills? (yes!)
• That looks like a burning man bike! Whaaaat? Nooooooo! 🙂